NIA to probe Kashmir connection in ‘suspected Amroha-Delhi module of IS case’

Srinagar: During the investigation by National Investigating Agency (NIA) into the suspected Amroha-Delhi module of the Islamic State have now found a Kashmir link to the alleged conspiracy, the report by Indian Express said.

Interrogation of Saqib Iftekhar, a Hapur-based muezzin under arrest for allegedly helping the group acquire weapons is learnt to have revealed that he had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir twice in search of weapons and to meet militants, The NIA sources claimed that Iftekhar travelled to Kashmir first in May last year. “He visited Bandipora in North Kashmir and then went Rajouri in Jammu,” an NIA officer told The Indian Express.

The report mentioned that his second visit to the Valley was in August when he visited Tral, the officer said. “He had gone to Tral to meet a Maulvi. He and the Maulvi are known to each other as they studied theology in an Amroha seminary together. He asked the Maulvi to arrange for weapons and to help him meet Mujahideen. The Maulvi expressed the inability to arrange for weapons but promised to help him meet Mujahideen,” the officer said.

An NIA team is now in Kashmir to identify and question the Maulvi and to ascertain if the group ever came in contact with Kashmiri militants.

NIA has so far arrested 11 people in connection with the case, with Mufti Suhail — an Islamic Preacher from Jaffarabad in Delhi — being accused of being the leader of the group.

The core group allegedly had four members — Suhail; Mohammed Anas, a civil engineering student from Amity University; Zubair and Zaid, all of them residents of Jaffarabad in Delhi. On instructions from their handler they had decided to form the group to carry out IS activities, NIA sources told TheIndian Express said.

To maintain secrecy, they would create a Telegram group every morning to chat and delete it the same evening, NIA sources said.

On December 26, NIA arrested 10 people from Delhi’s Jaffarabad and UP’s Amroha for allegedly being part of a group called Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam. The agency alleged that the group owed allegiance to the Islamic State and was being handled by an online entity by the name of Abu Malik Peshawari.

Officially, the NIA has maintained that the group had plans to target “vital installations and important personalities which included politicians”, TheIndian Express reported.